The Precursors' Loops
by slayst
Summary: Jak & Daxter' universe enters the Infinite Time Loops. Let's spread eco across Yggdrasil.
1. Chapter 1

No-one knows what caused the initial problem with Yggdrasil, the World Tree. All that is known is that at some point in the multiverse's "past", Yggdrasil was damaged. In order to stablize the various universes, the gods (or Admins) put them into a "safe-mode" of sorts, where time is looped during an important portion of the universes time-line.

Originally, seven universes were started looping by the Admins: Ranma 1/2, Harry Potter, Naruto, Bleach, Evangelion, Sailor Moon, and Slayers. Other universes followed afterwards.

And now, long after the event known as 'The Crash', and long after The Doctor's own Awakening, it's Jak &amp; Daxters' universe that's entering the Infinite Time Loops.

* * *

1.01

* * *

"SAMOOOOS !"

He had forgiven much... probably more than reasonable. But that was too much. Ripping him from his time for him to grow away from the nightmare it was (or will be) was one thing. Playing god a second time and bringing him back again was just too cruel.

Rushing into the old sage's hut, he pointed an accusing at him, his eyes glaring daggers.

"Undo it."

"Jak?"

"Don't 'Jak' me. I don't know how you managed that but you'd better stop it before I loose patience and _he_ comes out for a talk."

"You… can talk... and... who's that_ he_?"

"Don't play dumb with me, I'm not in the mood."

"Jak, why don't you calm down so we can figure out..."

"NO! Jak's done listening to old geezer telling him to calm down when cosmic threats are running around and that same old geezer is messing with his life. I'm done with Gol, done with Kor, done with Praxis, Veger, Errol … I'm even done with Torn, Ashlyn, Kira, Abriville and most of all, I'm done with you … I'm done with it all."

The green sage's calm figure turned into a pained expression. So that was it. The boy somehow remembered where... when he was from.

"Jak, you've got to understand... I didn't have a choice. If I hadn't brought you here, in Sandhaven, your life would have been one of constant danger, constant fear of being caught. You had to live a happy youth, away from Abriville's misery. I had to be sure that you were ready for the challenges you'd have to face."

"But what forced you to make me go through it AGAIN?" cut abruptly the young boy, ending in a scream.

Puzzled, Samos could only mumbled. "What do you mean 'again'?"

But Jak was way too pissed off to hear it, or even stop now.

"I had forgiven you and you just had to stab me in the back, using that damn time device. You ru**ined it all****!**"

Jak's eyes started to swing madly and his hair were slowly turning white, his skin taking an ashy tone and his voice twisted by anger.

"Kor was **down**… Errol and his **little friends **were down… I was at last back home… and you haha**ha** … you **brought me ba**ck for the second time… for Precur**sor know what** motive… ha**haha**ha… expecting me to **help you.**"

At that, Jak started to cackle evilly. Two horns pierced his skin and crowned his head, like a dark regalia, while his eyes's sclera turned black. His dark persona was slowly taking over, the phenomenon appearing even more horrid on such a small body.

"What was the **point?** Why endure **all of this** if it was just **an entertainment**, a way to amuse you?** ANSWER ME!**" he growled more that he yelled, claws at the ready and sharp fangs menacingly bared at the old sage.

"Jak, you're not yourself. You've been poisoned by dark eco."

"I WAS **TORTURED**. I **screamed and begged** while you were busy meditating in your cell, not **ten feet away** from the chair!"

"The old me couldn't do anything, it was meant to happen this way. I'm sorry Jak. But listen, I…"

"**No, you listen.** You send me back to Spargus this instant, or I may loose what little control I have left and **rip you apart** **before feeding you to your plant****.**"

Confusion spread across the sage's face.

"Spargus?" he asked in a small and perplexed voice. "What's Spargus?"

Stunned, Jak couldn't formulate an immediate answer. The old weed didn't know of Spargus? It was impossible. But seeing Samos's expression, he could almost believe it.

Confused, his anger slowly drifting away, the young boy stammered an answer. "**My …** **my fa**ther's city …"

By talking of his now deceased parent, sadness took him over and the anger backed off, alongside his dark persona.

"My city." he added in a whisper.

Silence seemed to drag on forever, before Samos gathered enough courage to break it.

"Jak." started the quite shaken sage, "I'm sorry for what I did to you, but I'm afraid that there's more at work here. Your dark self shouldn't exist yet and that Spargus you're talking about, your father... it looks like you've lived more than what your future self had the last time I saw him, by the Metalheads nest. Boy, if you're as you said 'back again', then something's going on."

The word echoed around the room, taking their time to reach the once again young warrior. Coming to his senses after his rage- and sadness-induced mental breakdowns, Jak studied the sage's feature, trying to see a sign of lie and deception.

Nothing, nothing at all.

Hope, shame and a total lack on understanding flooded him. "So… you didn't…"

His only answer was a shacked head.

* * *

Jumping across such distances should have been hard for such a young boy, but the wings flashing away as he landed were telling otherwise.

Regaining his balance, the boy smiled softly. He was very grateful that his light-eco self had followed him, even if the dark one had done it too. At least, it was allowing him to keep the fragile stability he had managed to regain after so many torments and hardships. Dismissing the headaches awakening on both his light and dark-persona calls, he walked up to the sculpture.

"Greetings, young one." loudly beamed the copper-like giant statue.

"Yeah, hi." replied nonchalantly said boy.

"Tell me, why do you seek the wisdom of the great precursors?"

The answer was another question.

"Who's talking? Prof, Cool-boy or Dumby?"

"Hrm. We... don't know what you're talking about."

"Prof then," smirked Jak, "you're still a terrible liar. Okay you fuzzballs, there's something wrong with time and Samos's not responsible. That leaves you and the dark ones. Which of you was it?"

"... So you're the epicenter." stated the sculpture.

"What do you mean?"

"We felt that Time had been broken somehow, revolving around someone. It seems to be you, Mar."

The heir to his own house (don't ask, it's that weird) was taken by surprise. "So that's not one of you're doing?" he asked.

"It is not, but neither is it one of the dark Precursors. Time-rifts are light-inclined subjects, forever out of their grasp."

"Then what caused it?"

Silence stretched for a few second, before the heavy verdict was let out.

"... We don't know."

"That would be me." announced suddenly an unknown yet serene voice.

Turning around more quickly than his young body should have allowed, adopting a defensive stance, Jak came face to face with … a weird old man dressed in an ostentatious and glinting suit. Red and white where clashing on the fabric, emphasizing the gold of the crown on his head … head with a way too pale skin and no-pointed ears. The view was so foreign that the fearsome and fearless warrior … stepped back, dazed.

The man was slowly turning his well-combed mustache around one of his sharpened nails, smiling mischievously while eying Jak's reaction.

The old ottsel playing with his 'glorious machine' seemed to grow tired of this tension as the statue suddenly asked "Who are you, tiny man?"

"I'm known as Lingbao Tianzun, second of the Three Pure One, Lord of the Way, leader of the True Men, keeper of the times and judge of both Yin and Yang. Be at ease, tiny furry creature, I'm not a menace." smiled the now identified deity.

"You said that was your doing." grimly said Jak, his thoughts running wild.

"Indeed."

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because I … we, need you. Among others. Now come, I'll explain everything."

Jak's glare intensified.

"Lead the way." he spitted.

The admin walked toward the cliff and … stepped on emptiness, calmly heading toward the plage. Reaching a yacow, he patted it softly before smiling at Jak, still frozen on the spot by the Precursor statue.

The god, amused, thought of his two brothers which were probably still worrying for nothing on their terminals. Yes, this universe was coming along nicely.

* * *

"So that's what happened." thoughtfully said the green sage.

"If what this so-called god said is true." answer Jak.

"A divine tree... what a wonder. And I won't remember anything?"

"Not by next loop, no. But you will, eventually. The closer I am to someone, the higher the chance of him or her looping too."

Dreadful realization fell on Samos.

"That means Daxter will follow you soon."

The young hero scratched his head.

"I hope so, it's weird to keep things from him."

His gaze went out the window and he stared at the sky, as if seeing his joyful future best-friend in all his orange glory.

Samos got him out of his daze by asking "Now then, what will you do Jak?"

The young warrior though it through for a few seconds.

"Well, I'm thirteen again so we should have almost three years before Gol and Maya start their crusade. It sure would be helpful if the sages' portal network was fully active by that time, don't you think?"

Samos frowned. "You'll go? Just like that? And alone too?"

"You think I need someone to babysit me?"

"That's not what I mean and you know it." he scolded his young protege. "What about Daxter and Kiera? What will you tell them?"

"I won't. You will."

"What?"

"I'm _your_ student. _You're_ the one teaching me eco manipulation, right? Just tell them that I'm on a travel for my eco-channeling classes, that you want me to study other ecos under the other sages."

"I see... but how do you think they'll take the news of your departure?"

Ho, he wasn't really worried about the little pest, for weeds where hard to get rid of after all. But his daughter would be desolated to see her childhood crush run away from her.

"They're resourceful, they'll manage."

"But you won't have a zoomer and even that flut flut you told me about. How will you travel without them?"

"I'll fly by myself." stated the darkness' and light' chosen-one. The "Duh!" went unsaid but it was clear in his eyes.

The green sage sighted.

"There's no stopping you right?

Silence.

"When will you depart then?"

Jak's face hardened

"Tomorrow, at dawn."

* * *

"Jak, boy. Why are you so late?"

"Sorry uncle, 'was meeting Samos."

The balding middle-aged man wasn't his real uncle, but he had act as such since Jak's arrival in Sandover. He just had to tell him he was departing or the man would have worried and followed after him to the end of the earth. He was just that cool of an adventurer.

"Really? And what did the old greeny wanted?"

"He's sending me on an errand out of the village." chirped happily the young yet fearsome warrior.

"What? Aren't you a little to young for that?"

"Uncle, I'm fourteen. Besides, it's for my eco formation."

"Oh, you should have said so. Well, what's that errand of yours for?"

"I'm to meet the blue sage, in Rock Village, and study under him."

"On the other side of the Fire Canyon? That's madness!"

"Uncle, I'm going through the portal. There's nothing to worry about."

Jak felt bad lying to his uncle, but a white lie was necessary every once in a while.

Said man's jaw tightened, before relaxing slowly.

"For how long?"

"Three years or so."

"And you're leaving..."

"Tomorrow."

He sighted.

"Thought so. My boy, I'm afraid my awesome story-telling skills have made an adventurer of you."

"Oh, you have no idea." thought the adult turned child.

"I can't wait to see how great of a man you'll become. Now go to bed, you're way past your curfew."

* * *

"So Jak, here we are."

The young boy was standing near, wearing a leather armor strangely imitating the plated-one he had... would get as Mar in Spargus.

In front of him, the Fire Canyon was but molten rocks and lava.

"You're sure you'll be alright?"

"Don't worry Samos, I'll be fine." answered the kid. "Will you be?" he asked, smirking.

"Hey, I may be old but I'm still the green sage. Don't count me out just yet."

"Then what of those collectors on the beach?"

"I'll clean them. Maybe even train Kiera and that little redhead snot-brat to handle green eco along the way."

"And the Forbidden Jungle?"

"I'll have the fisher help me reach that dark seed your mentioned and I'll purify it."

"Think he'll also help you with Mist Island's inhabitants?" continued the youngster, everlasting smile still shining in the morning sun.

"Don't push boy, before I change my mind and show you why I'm an Eco Master." he warned his apprentice before shoving a small backpack in his hands.

"Now off you go." he carried on, "Good luck in your travels and do come back once in a while."

The young boy adjusted the bag on his shoulder before facing the raging inferno. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly turned into a white blur. His skin, clothes and eyes started emitting a vibrant light as two ghastly wings sprouted out of his back.

The light embodiment nodded lightly.

And like that, he took off.

* * *

The water-like sound of the portal reverberated around the green sage's hut as the traveler took in his new surroundings.

"So boy, how did it go?" Samos impatiently asked his visitor.

"Fine." replied Jak, "He wasn't that hard to convinced."

"And what of our old … difference of opinion?"

"Your run-in over a stupid matter that escalated into an all-out war you mean? Don't worry, he'll get over it. After all, he has no choice now."

* * *

"Tell me boy, why did the crazy old sap-puddle sent his pupil all the way through the Lava Tube to find the greeeeeat yellow sage?"

"Like I told the others, I'm..."

"The others? You've gone to the other sages?"

"I did, you're the last one."

"Hmrff."

"As I was trying to say, I'm here to study eco, yellow eco that is, and reestablish the portal network."

"The network? Why would the old fool want that?"

"Samos sent me for that, I don't know much more myself."

"The rotten root is making you risk your life and doesn't explain why?"

The young boy sighted heavily.

"That's pure master Samos."

The yellow sage was tempted to open his big mouth and let out a flow of insanities directed towards his foolish and green colleague. Really, he was. In fact, he would have, if it wasn't for the young lad next to him. Or the fact that said youngster had suddenly stumbled, convulsed, and been engulfed in a bright halo. When it faded out, the young boy was there, silent and unmoving, his body entirely made out of pure white light. In a clear, ringing voice, he spoke.

"_A threat is coming, rising in the __darkness, __but here you are, storming against the other sages for a matter long past its time. B__eware yellow sage, __for your __grudge __will only bring doom to the world. Push your quarrels away and u__nite with the others __to protect __that boy from the evil __lying in wait for him, __for he will __one day __protect you all from yourselves.__Fail and you'll __risk seeing __it all__ go down in black eco flames._"

And the boy went back to normal, just as fast as he had changed in the first place.

"Nhg... damn headaches."

"..."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Just a 'temporary blackout', that's what Master Samos said."

"No it's... it's okay."

"So, where's the portal?"

Baffled, the sage pointed his staff to a side of his hut where a dusty sheet was covering the network' gate.

"Thanks."

Jak walked to the dormant machine, removed the blanket in a swift motion and with a bip, got it out of it's slumber.

At that moment, even as he was eying him closely and really wanted to, the yellow sage couldn't see anything else in greeny' student that the genuine thirteen-year-old boy he was supposed to be. But after such a demonstration of power... his instincts were yelling at him to jump in that portal and ask the green freak in which hell he had found the brat.

Internally, said boy was cackling. His light-self may be mute, but Precursors knew their stuff when it was coming to voice-tempering and recording devices. He could feel the yellow sage's glare on him, the questions in his head... and he knew that he wouldn't ask any of them.

The great Precursor voice, it worked every single time.

* * *

Twin purple lights burst into existence and soon, the dark eco sage' raspy voice echoed. "Continue your search for artifacts and eco." Slight pause, for him to catch his breath. Hey, it takes a lot to talk like that. "If the locals possess precursor items, you know what to do."

The war-painted woman floating by his side in full precursor regalia continued with a much more healthy voice. Seriously, that dude had to smoke ten packets a day since his childhood.

"Deal harshly with anybody who strays from the village." she said, "We will attack it, in due time."

Sadly for those two cosplayers, the attack never came. Not theirs at least. In it's place, they got four eco sages rampaging through the lurkers' ranks. Eco bolts, electric charges, rage-enfused fists and vines quickly incapacitated the primal pseudo-army.

The two floating individuals produced black tendrils, prepared to launch them at the impudent fools who dared to threaten their plans. Sadly, they hadn't expected their own powers to rush out of their grasp to a lone figure. No, not a simple figure but lone boy, a child no older than fifteen holding some junk part bigger than him. A glowing child.

Light Jak add calmly walked-in on the scene under Flash Freeze effects, carrying his burden.

Pushing aside the sensation of the eco filling his own dark pools, he threw the Precursor robot' head he got earlier.

Silence followed.

Finally blinking, Maia Acheron mused "How is it possible?"

Her mad brother Gol simply stepped... huh, floated back shouting at the top of his corrupted lungs.

"IT CAN'T BE TRUE! THERE IS NO SUCH A THING AS LIGHT ECO! YOU CAN'T BE REAL!"

Light Jak smiled back.

* * *

1.01 - Dear Jak, welcome to the Multiverse. Don't forget to let your sanity by the door, you won't need it in there.

This Jak has gone through the first three games, but not through "Jak X" or "The Lost Frontier" yet, as I don't have those games and don't want to make any mistakes writing about them. If you do feel like writing Jak snips, go to SpaceBattles' Forum, you'll be more than welcomed.

By the way, you may haven't noticed it but I have managed to avoid the term "human" for the whole chapter. And yes, those persons are 100% humans in their universe, despite the ears. So I'll use it later, sue me.

See you next time for the young man next set of loops, as well as the continuation of his Activation Loop (you know, the one you just red).


	2. Chapter 2

Here comes a brand new set of loops, with a little red bow on the package.

Hope you appreciate the effort.

* * *

2.01 - (1.01 continuation)

* * *

"Jak my boy, I hope you're ready." reverently said the green sage, quickly adding "Ready for everything." in a sigh.

At his side, the local Anchor could only smile faintly.

"You know I am Samos. There's no need to worry."

"True, but I just thought that a proper warning was due."

"Dramatic much?" smirked the young warrior.

Samos didn't reply, only gesturing toward the giant floating Rift gate and the control-wagon his daughter would one day create. The message was clear, it was a perfectly accurate time to be over-dramatic.

The two of them staid there, in silence. Both were mentally-revising what they were to do after crossing the portal.

For Samos, it was clear. He would join his younger self and make a sage out of him.

And for Jak, it was just as clear, but more mind-twisting. Things would be so different, now that he knew what to expect, that he had no idea how this trip would go. Firstly, there was simply no way that he would allowed himself to be captured on the spot by Errol and his Krimzon guards. It meant that he would avoid the Dark Warrior project, join the Undergrounds way earlier, and go straight after Praxis, Errol, Kor and Veger. With his knowledge, he was convinced that he could bring peace to Haven City in a matter of weeks, if not days.

The true question now was 'how could he regain his friends' trust this time around?'.

* * *

2.02

* * *

Mar was faced with a life or death situation, but with what he was witnessing, he couldn't care less.

A young man, not older than seventeen, had appeared out of nowhere and saved his life, taking out five Metalheads in the process, all the while using nothing but his fists.

Said boy had then narrated a crazy story about being his many-times descendent, being brought back from the future by some just as crazy ottsel – whatever that could be – experiencing with his powers and messing big time. The boy – named Mar too, but apparently preferring Jak – had even provided his own worn-out seal as proof.

Jak had then furnished the completed schematics of the weapon he had himself practically lost his health working on. Seeing how far he had still been, he had been glad for his grand-grand-grand-something-son bringing them back, otherwise, the sleepless nights would have been numerous.

The eco cannon had been finished in thirty-two hours and the final assault programmed to the following day.

In the Metalheads' nest, ancestor and descendent had fought side by side, taking down waves after waves of creatures, advancing more and more towards their last enemy. Soon enough, the Metalhead King had towered above them, hanging from the ceiling, mouth oozing dark eco and slobber.

And that's when Jak had taken a step forward and started to … taunt the enemy?

* * *

"Hey Kor, how are you pal? You hung out anywhere nice recently? Aaw come on, don't try your angry face with me, you know I'm immune to it after working under Torn. Oh, wait, you don't know that yet. Anyway, you really should forget about that whole domination thing, it won't work out. Not to disappoint you, but I'll just stop you if you don't anyway. Hell, I even saw my younger self kick your ass once, and it was glorious. Not to the mention the time where you tried to kill him/me, and the crocodog bite you to death. So how about that… you get down, and we're having an early opening for the Naughty Ottsell to talk about your death and control obsession. What do you think, buddy?"

Jak blinked. Just one eco blast and the nasty nest had been replaced by the sunny vision of Sandover, a smiling human Daxter appearing where had previously stood... huh, hang a pissed-off Kor.

The Anchor sighed, before smiling. In his mind, he was replaying the various expressions which had appeared on the creature's face.

"Totally worth it."

* * *

2.03 – (2.01 continuation)

* * *

The man was angry. Well, it was pretty obvious that he was making an angry face. Or it was just Torn being his normal Torn-looking self at the beginning of the war, Jak really couldn't tell.

"What are you doing here, short stuff? Being lost in these parts can be _dangerous_, you know."

The Anchor almost laughed. He was pretty much certain than nothing was more dangerous than him in the whole city. Well, except maybe Ashlyn and Kira when they were having a cat fight. Girls could be scary, and his girlfriend and childhood-friend/past-crush were no exception. In fact, they could very well be the rule.

"I want to enrol in the Underground. I was told to look for someone named Torn."

The ex-Krimson's eyes narrowed.

"Told by who?"

Jak smiled so wickedly that his dark-self almost took over, causing a small dark eco spark to pass over his teeth.

"The Shadow."

Torn's eyes almost bulged out of his skull.

* * *

2.04

* * *

The Krimzon Guard was a place of gossips. Patrolling the city and eradicating… huh, protecting the citizens meant that they had ears everywhere, and every single one of the guards had a tendency to listen.

First were the stuff of legends, the kind of rumours that, shall they prove themselves to be true, could very well be the first sign of the fall of the city. Among those were the usual 'Commandant Ashlyn is working with the Underground' and other 'A secret division of Krimson is collaborating with the metalheads under direct Baron's orders'. Those ones were so ridiculous that they just couldn't be true.

Then came the rarer – and more hushed – 'King Damas lives' and 'An heir to Mar's line walks among us'. Doubts lingered on those ones, but most believe them to be nothing but Underground's propaganda.

Then came the other critical gossips, those ones impacting the units and guards.

For example, the newbies learned quickly that the rumour stating that 'Commander Ashlyn had been intimate with ex-Commander Torn' was better left unsaid, if they didn't want to have their things confiscated and burned by the rest of the Guard as a whole. In fact, any sentence beginning with 'Commander Ashlyn is going out with' had been banned.

As for the one about 'the blind oracle within the marketplace', every men was pretending to ignore it, but all had went to her at least once to try and know more about their love life, maybe even who they should court. They all had been roughed up by the old lady, mocked by the monkey-parrot-thing there, and immensely disappointed that Commander Ashlyn's name had never been pronounced.

All in all, those rumours were a constant. But from time to time, a novelty made its way to their headquarters.

This time around, one of the guy patrolling the slums had yelled to anyone within hearing distance that a beast had attacked him. It had been small, green, full of way too many teeth, and had targeted his jugular. Had it not been for his armour, he would have been dead.

His coworkers had started by laughing at him, arguing that the guy had probably just met some rat, or maybe a metalbug. Then the alarms had went off. The primary target, that blond murderer, had just been spotted in the slums with a kid that could have been the secondary target designated by the baron. The soldiers had drove there immediately… to face a scene that only one word would ever manage to describe: chaos.

Guards' corpses were laying on the ground, people were running, screaming, guns were blazing and jumpers burning on the ground.

Their target was there, using some illegally-tempered gun. But they were more concern with the green blur in the middle of this mess, running around and leaving a trail of body behind him.

The whole squadron saw the white of teeth and the red of blood.

There were decimated in two seconds.

* * *

"And so, the kid's safe. I trust there's been no problem?"

Jak and Daxter furtively looked at the small crocodog playing with the kid.

The beast looked back and returned a shark smile.

"None."

* * *

It was fun.

Awakening as the crocodog had been disturbing at first, but it had gave him the opportunity of protecting his younger self and mess around with people – especially Kor – in the process.

In addition to the growls and barks, the metalhead's king had had his hands bitten several times and was forced to change his robes twice a day, either after pissing himself in fear from the means glares or being pissed on.

Samos' head-trunk had been chewed on, like most of Kiera's tools. Sieg's Pacifier had been stolen and dismantled before being scattered all around Haven. Vin had locked himself in his lab after just twelve seconds in his company, Torn had found slob on his table and files, while Crew had mysteriously lost all the hunt trophies. Tasted weird.

And now, he was undergoing the complex job of scaring his unawake best friend (and self, but it was just a bonus).

It should teach him to never call his younger him scruffy ever again.

* * *

2.05 – (2.03 continuation)

* * *

With a direct recommendation from The Shadow, present and future alike, joining the Underground had been easy. Besides, the task Jak had been invited to undertook had been the same. Stealing an unmonitored flag in an unprotected location, Torn was taking him for a child. He had done it so quickly that the ex-captain had suffered from whiplash.

Soon enough, weeks had passed and Jak had made a name for himself. Even when odds were against him, he was doing the job. He had saved dozens of civilians and close to half of the Underground agents, opened new escape routes from the city to the Badlands through the underground and old eco mines, secured several weapons shipments, provided substantial finances to the network and helped creating new alliances with the port's smugglers and, of all people, the lurkers from the market. Let's also not forget about Krimzon Commander Ashlyn Praxis, which was now collaborating with the Underground and, if rumours were to be believed, was dating its new hero, to the ire of ex-captain Torn.

Anyway, as things were going, every agent was expecting the city to be free from the Baron's tyranny within a year or so.

They would be proven wrong.

* * *

"Jak, I'm sending you to the prison. Ashlyn heard a rumour about some new weapon been created there and I want you to make sure that it never get past the stage of bruit."

A weapon in the prison? That was it, the Dark Warrior project, Praxis had started it all again. If it had grew so much that it had made its way to the Krimzons' ears, hundreds were probably already dead. According to Samos, being of Mar's bloodline and having received eco channeller's lessons had been the only reasons for his survival. Without him, the project was doomed to fail, it was a fact. Those deaths were pointless and the simple though was making him sick.

"Consider it done."

* * *

Infiltrating the place had been just as easy as disposing of the guards. They were taken by surprise by a bunch of grenades and were done for the count in ten seconds.

Jak had found the project's files afterwards. They were loathsome and had been disposed off right away, computers and papers burned down by dark eco bolts called by his growing anger.

He had then opened the cells and the bodies had appeared. Men and women of all ages, infants and elders alike. Some had just bled to death, others had undergone horrible mutations, none had died peacefully. He had to bite his cheeks to blood with his newly elongated fangs, find a focus in the pain. Otherwise, he would have lost it.

He did eventually, when he reached his old cell. The place was like he remembered. Small, cold, with walls scratched by bloody nails and drenched by seas of tears. The only thing amiss was the occupant.

"Heeeey, Jak… you're late, pal."

The weakened and broken voice of his best friend Daxter opened something in Jak.

A cry of despair escaped his lips as the prison went down in a purple explosion.

* * *

2.06

* * *

A prisoner was escaping. Not just any prisoner, but the baron's last remaining experiment.

The two guards knew that letting it go was just out of question.

"Where is it?"

"It was spotted in sector B5, but it was coming this way."

_Surrender yourself, you are under arrest._

That was the cold voice of the regular IA monitoring every Krimzon Guard building, from their HQ to the prison, passing by the ultra-private poker club. It had apparently spotted the prisoner.

Yes, the IA was right, the subject was approaching. In fact, they could see him clearly. It was clad in some bastard armour and carrying a sort of rat on its shoulder. Now they just had to put its nerves on a high with their standard-issue tazers and …

"Fine."

Wait, what?

"I wanted a break anyway."

"Jak? What are you doing?"

"Turning myself in, Daxter. Hey, you guys, it's not than I'm looking forward to being thrown in a cell again, but I'd appreciate if you could accelerate and shackle me up already. Just want to get this over with, you know."

What the hell was happening? The escape convict was just… giving up? It couldn't be true. In fact, the two guards were having this surprising sensation that this day should have gone horribly wrong for them. Something was telling them that this sensation should be trusted, and that if this day was really going out of track, then the whole universe was probably screwed.

"Hey, you're gonna restraint me or I'll have to do it myself?"

* * *

The guards were elsewhere and Daxter was looking at him like he would have at an alien. It didn't mattered, Jak was too tired to explain anything.

The thing was that, from loop to loop, the Anchor was sent back to the time of Mar, the founder. Sadly, the baseline had been damaged and history had the habit of getting weird. Sometimes, Mar had existed and Jak was merely giving a hand, seeing his ancestor become the legend that he would be. That was just fine. But sometimes, that Mar was nowhere to be find and Jak had to assume his birth name. He would be the founder of his own House and become the legend himself.

Too bad that a small and obscure comment, made by Ashlyn during the precursors' departure, had remained in the loop code and made that last version predominant.

Because of that, Jak had just spent four loops in a row founding Haven.

Fighting metalheads and lurkers, appeasing the conflicts between inhabitants, handling the politicians – yes, there were politicians before the city was even finished, and some of them would give Veger a run for his money –, scheming the buildings, mining the required materials, directing the construction, channelling enough eco to weave a proper defence system…

Truly, a cell was welcomed with open arms.

* * *

2.07 – (2.05 continuation)

* * *

"What happened?"

Usually, had anybody spoke that harshly to the man known to the Underground as The Shadow, that person would have been in deep trouble.

Ashlyn wasn't just anybody, and Torn had just told her that her boyfriend was in a catatonic state in a nearby room. Things were everything but usual.

"Jak went to investigate on that weapon your told us about and he found… something unexpected."

"What?"

"You know about our little history, right?"

"Your time-travel, yes. Jak told me months ago. What of it?"

"Well, we didn't knew it until now, but we didn't came alone. Jak's best friend and my stubborn daughter travelled with us and were captured upon arrival."

The Krimzon commander was seeing where this conversation was going. She was seeing it all too clearly.

"Samos..."

"They've been tortured for the past eight months, injected with dark eco. Daxter changed somehow and it saved him. He's being checked on by our best medics and should make a full recovery, given enough time. But Kiera… Kiera didn't make it."

The sage's voice was now a whisper. Tears had started to trail down his face.

"Jak's blaming himself, but the fault's on me. I'm the green sage, I should have sense them. I should have know they would try to follow us. I should have stopped them. I should have…"

His throat was too dry to finish.

Ashlyn gently hugged him. When he would have calmed down, she would go to her boyfriend. He would need her too.

* * *

2.08

* * *

_Surrender yourself._

The Krimzon IA controling their building was a nuisance since baseline.

But this loop, it was on a whole new level.

Daxter, his best buddy, the small friend which was compensating his size with a mouth bigger than Crew, the one that had guarded his mental health intact through hell and back, the only one he could count on no matter what… wasn't there.

Instead, he was carrying a robot build from scrap parts of precursor technology, robot which he had somehow awaken from its slumber on Mist Island.

_There's no escape._

And the damn thing had the voice and personality – or lack off, in this case – of the Krimzon IA.

For the first time in several hundred loops, Jak contemplated murdering his sidekick.

* * *

2.09 – (2.07 continuation)

* * *

Samos was nervous.

Torn was nervous.

Ashlyn was nervous.

Every men and women from the Underground who had worked alongside Jak were nervous.

It had lasted two weeks. In two weeks, the fierce warrior had done nothing but stare at the ceiling of his room. Any conversation attempt had been in vain and he hadn't moved a muscle, not even an inch. He hadn't even ate, nor drank anything, to the nurses' growing despair. According to Samos and Onin's analysis, both the light and dark eco in the boy had worked to keep him alive, providing energy to his organs when his body should have cease to function days ago.

But if all those person were nervous, it wasn't because of this stillness. In fact, it was the opposite.

Just ten minutes ago, a young nurse had came in the hideout to announce that Daxter was recovering nicely. His ottsell body, result of the injections, was reluctant to medicines, which had worried them at first. In the end, it had appeared to be gifted with high regenerative abilities of its own and as soon as they had stopped their treatments, his wounds had started to close.

Maybe the girl had been too loud, or maybe Jak's sense of earring was enhanced in this stasis-like state he was in. He had heard her somehow, and had taken a decision.

Jak had risen from his bed and started to put his gear on. Without a word. With nothing but calculated and precise motions. His face devoid of any emotion. As blank as humanely possible.

And it was terrifying.

Grabbing his morphgun, Jak exited the room, no one daring to stand in his way.

The hunt was on.

* * *

2.10

* * *

Twelve years ago, a nightmare fell upon Konoha. On October the 10th, The Village Hidden In The Leaves had to face a formidable foe, the Kyubi, embodiment of evil. With his mighty tails, the beast could rip apart the earth, level entire mountains and start tsunamis. Battling the demon was hard, defeating it was impossible…

Until the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, entered the battlefield. Leader of his own making, sole man to ever gain a SS-rank and a Flee-on-sight order, creator of the Rasengan and the Hiraishin, the Yondaime called upon the most obscure art known to ninjakind : Fuinjutsu.

The sealing art was complex, so much in fact that there had never been more than two masters of it across the Elemental Nations at any given time. Minato was such a master.

Summoning the Shinigami from beyond the veil, Minato traded his own soul for the power to restrain the Kyubi, along with his dying wife Kushina Uzumaki's persona, in the body of a young infant: his own son. Not even one hour after coming to the world, the boy had been made the third jinshuriki of the demon and an orphan to boot.

And now, after years of seemingly peace under the caring leadership of the Sandaime Hokage, the Village Hidden In The Leaves was in for a surprise.

* * *

In a poorly-kept apartment, the boy opened his eyes. He was twelve now, and today was the day. He was scheduled to pass his graduation exams in the Ninja Academy. It would be the third time, but it would be the last. He would succeed, and prove them all that he could do it.

Or at least, that was what his in-loop memories where telling him.

In from of his small bathroom mirror, Jak Uzumaki was contemplating the legend of the Kyubi, the legendary nine-tailed demon that had attacked the village years ago.

Said demon had been an Ottsel.

Jak sighed.

"It's gonna be one of those loops."

* * *

2.11 – (2.09 continuation)

* * *

In the deafening silence, the door of the hideout opening was like a gunshot.

Under the eyes of the nurses, Jak put his bloodied rifle on the counter and went straight to his friend's chamber. Asking for direction was useless, he could felt him anyway.

In the room, a familiar orange ottsell was sleeping soundly, accompanying the beeps of screens and monitors with his snores. He looked peaceful, just like a kitten napping by a fireplace.

Jak took a chair and let himself fell in it, just by the bed.

He was asleep seconds later.

Outside, Haven City was slowly discovering that every automatic cannons had been turned to scrap metal and the robot factory sent on a collision course with the metalhead's nest. The Krimzon Guards had been executed all the same, and a special treatment had been provided to commander Errol, his phalanges torn from both hands and feet for him to bleed to death, while his eyes had been gouged out and fed to the port's fishes. As for Baron Praxis, he had been hung to the palace walls by his bowels, where had once crown the now burnt-down flag bearing his crest.

All was well once again.

* * *

First of all, let me tell you that I'm sorry for all the bloody-thingy and the drama. But with Jak being what and who he his, I had to shake him up a little, as a sort of welcome to the lops. I'll make it up for him and I'll try to keep the angoist to a minimum later (except for other character development, if I ever need it).

2.01 - A direct continuation of Jak's awakening. Knowing what he knows, he just had to think about what he would need to do thing differently.

2.02 - What reasons would there be to travel back in time if one couldn't mess with his ancestors and enemies?

2.03 - Torn's comment about the place being dangerous comes from the french version of the game. With how he says it, I just had to put it here.

2.04 - Bloody crocodog and his nervecraking barks. The thing's a weapon, worst than a metalhead.

2.05 - Since this is still Jak's first loop, he couldn't have yet ended The Dark Warrior Project singlehandedly before it could make a breakthrough. He has power, but he lacks the finesse and understanding of his own loop to put a stop to Praxis' madness before it strike. That thing is, for now, still bigger than him. As it is, the Project needed a warrior but didn't have access to Jak... so I gave them Daxter.

2.06 - Everybody needs a break from time to time, and not everybody has the luxury of being from a sanctuary loop. Be that as it may, a cell is as good a place as any other to cool down.

2.07 - Thank god Samos isn't looping yet, he just doesn't need that memory. Too bad Jak does, though. And yes, Daxter just had to be turn into an Ottsell again. As for killing Keira... well, I didn't intended to, but I just couldn't really have Daxter sneak up on Jak and Samos without her, and she had no reason to survive through the Project.

2.08 - If it wasn't for his light-side's influence over both his temper and patience, Jak would probably dismantled that thing in seconds.

2.09 - The lesson here is: never hurt a dark/light hybrid and armed to the teeth warrior. Or even better: never hurt his loved ones.

2.10 - A blond boy and his orange fured pet... yeah, I had to.

2.11 - Jak sure hasn't calmed down yet, but he vented off his anger... or a little bit of it, at least.

See you all next chapter for the (let's hope) more peaceful ending of Jak's Activation loop, and a bunch of others.


	3. Chapter 3

Jak's back for a lot of talking, inner darkness, and even more talking.

* * *

3.01 – (2.11 continuation)

* * *

"Jak, pal, you don't have to do this." pleaded the small Ottsell, "Isolating yourself with crazy monks for weeks on end can't be healthy. You saw them right, covered in paint like that? I'm sure they have lead poisoning. Why else would they come in a hospital _with their mounts_?"

The speech was quickly evolving into one of those improvised Daxter-trademarked ones, with the gestures and weird faces.

"Come on Jak, don't you think you've suffered enough already? You had… what, seven broken bones, dark eco overdose and a mild indigestion not three days ago? Oh, wait, there was no indigestion, because _you didn't eat anything for two weeks before that!_ Seriously Jak, Haven city's safe now, you made sure of it. You should stay in town now... enjoy the weather, watch a couple of races at the stadium, spend _quality_ time with Ashley and a few bottles you looted at the fatass' bar."

"We already talked about this, Dax. The city may be safe, but I'm not. I'm a walking disaster waiting to happen. And if I have to blow, I'd rather not be inside the walls. I know this, you know this, and Ashley knows this." growled the Anchor.

"Jak…"

The ottsell's voice sounded sad enough to make cruel evil masterminds cry.

His friend didn't react, at all.

"I made up my mind Dax. I need an outlet, a focus for all this built up rage, and I'll only find it there. I'm going, that's final."

"Can I come with you then? You'll need the company. I protect you from the monks, and you handle their damn lizards. What do you think?"

"Absolutely not. You can barely leave your bed, Dax. You're staying right here, and if I hear from Tess that you set even one foot outside of the infirmary, I'm dragging you back in myself."

"But to do that, you would have to come back… mmh, not a bad plan."

"Daxter."

"Fine, fine. Just… go. And get better."

Jak smiled warmly at his best friend.

"I will."

* * *

Five minutes after joining Seem and the other monks, the Looper had dumped his gun, armor, and pretty much every other earthly possessions he had.

He was then offered one of their characteristic hooded grey suit, before being baptized by Seem. He was properly renamed Mar, as his father had intended, and guided through the Temple's bowels.

He was about to meet the Oracle.

* * *

"You stand before us once again, Mar. And once again, your soul is troubled." proclaimed the giant gleaming precursor statue.

Jak could only sigh.

"Can you drop the voice-tempering, please? Seriously Prof, it's annoying."

"Oh, huh, sure. Is this better?" asked the Ottsel, his voice loosing many decibels and the added echo.

The looper smiled.

He could practically see the blush on the guy's face. Yes, despite the fur. He had gotten quiet experimented with Daxter's own ottsel state.

"Much better."

"Now, tell me Mar, what happened to you?"

"I'm… losing control. The equilibrium between light and dark eco in me was fragile at best when I brought Errol down, but…"

"Something caused your dark side to grow stronger."

"Yes."

Kira, dead. Daxter, reduced to a broken form. The anger, entirely focused toward Praxis, Errol, the Dark Ones…

The looper blinked, quickly banishing the dark images that kept assaulting his mind.

"Is there anything you can do?"

A hushed and animated discussion could soon be heard between the three precursors hidden in the planet's core. Prof returned minutes later, in a hurry apparently as he grabbed the microphone improperly, making the statue screech horribly.

"Sorry about that… Well, I'm sorry Mar, but we won't be able to gift you any more light powers, as your body wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I thought as much, yes."

"Still, you can learn on your own through meditation and practice, and nothing prevents us from offering you advices. It wouldn't do to have an unstable Anchor for our universe now, would it?"

"It wouldn't, no. Thank you."

"No Mar, _we_ should be thanking _you._"

Dumby and Surfer expressed their agreement in the background.

"Okay, that's enough of that. Emotional babble always gives me the creeps, even more when it's done by furry little orange creatures, so can we just get to it?"

"I suppose we can." said the ottsel as a ray of light eco suddenly descended from the ceiling, bathing the platform in a holy glow.

"Seat in the light, Mar, and focus on your feelings. The anger, the pain, let them be washed away. Recall the feeling of your light side…"

* * *

Jak opened his eyes to the smiling face of his best friend.

A human face.

"Hey Jak, what would you say if I was to tell you that the fisherman is out of town and his boat is left unsupervised with a full engine?"

The looper closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, feeling the dark eco inside of him. It was right under his skin, raw, corrupting, powerful… so powerful. And ready to lash out… yet stopped by the calming flowing feeling of the light eco, keeping it leashed, fully at his command.

Jak wasn't able to talk yet… well, he could, but Daxter would freak out. So he merely smiled and nodded, the meaning behind his inviting gesture clear enough for his friend.

"You're asking if I fancy a little trip to Misty Island? Jak, how can you. We would need to borrow that boat, which would be extremely reckless, and completely ignore Greeny's explicit orders, which could potentially get us both in big troubles…"

Matching grins were soon worn by the two friends.

"I'm driving."

* * *

3.02

* * *

Jak Awoke in the middle of a heated conversation, one he'd heard dozens of time already.

"Are you gonna keep yapping or are you gonna help me out of this mess?"

Great, he was back in Sandover Village, and Greenie and Daxter were at it again.

"I'm gonna keep yapping –" replied the sage."– because in my professional opinion, a change is an improvement."

The Anchor almost snorted at the absurdity of this statement. The Loops provided change, and they could make things better. They also could also make things much, much worst…

"And besides, I couldn't help you if I wanted to."

"WHAAAAAAAT?"

Jak rubbed his hurting ears. He really had to explain the concept of diurnal din to his furred friend.

"There's only one person who has studied dark eco long enough to have a chance to return you to your previous form. Gol Acheron, the sage."

This time, Jak did snort.

As if the crazy nutcase could do anything about a human-to-Precursor conversion triggered at the molecular level.

He wouldn't even trust him to lace his shoes without his sister… and come to think of it, Gol was only wearing strips of cloth around his feet and legs. Mmh, maybe he'd given too much credit to Maya.

"But he lives far to the north. Far, far to the north. Nobody has spoken to him in ages."

"And we don't need to."

The old sage and the ottsell turned as one to the young boy, startled by his voice. Jak wasn't mute in this loop, but he was extremely quiet and they had not expected him to speak up.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? I'm small, fuzzy, and some parts of me are getting scratchy. We _need_ this guy!"

"Daxter, please, let Jak explains himself. Now my boy, what did you mean by 'we don't need to'?"

"This Gol Akeron studied dark eco, and Daxter got turned into… well, let's call it an ottsell, by dark eco. He doesn't need further exposure."

"That may be correct, but Gol would still have a deeper knowledge of the effects of dark eco, and he might know of a cure."

"We don't _need_ to understand dark eco, as we _already know_ what Dax needs. You taught me yourself that eco is all about balance. What one type of eco do, another can undo."

"Green eco is powerful Jak, but it won't be enough to counter such a transformation."

The Anchor smirked.

"I wasn't talking about green eco."

Daxter scratched his head in confusion, while Samos' eyes almost bulged out of his head.

"You don't mean… light eco? Jak, it is a bedtime story, a myth and…"

"And again, you taught me that stories and myths had to come from somewhere, Master Samos."

The old man sighed.

"You're right… light eco might be what we need."

Daxter perked up at that.

"But how would you find it? Even if it does exist, its secrets have been lost."

"We have a Precursor's statue just outside the village, and they were supposedly masters of all ecos. I say we go there and ask."

"Those statues are not really sentient Jak." tried to explain Samos.

"Says who? For all we know, there might be tiny little precursors playing with controllers somewhere."

Daxter laughed at that.

"Ha, what are the chances?"

"About the same as you being a Precursor." said the Anchor, knowing smile on his lips.

* * *

Jak sat next to the Precursor statue for over half an hour, talking to the giant idol. He explained the loops to the Precursors, and the plan he had designed for this one. The three ottsells agreed to help immediately. They gave the Anchor what he would need, and sent him on his way back to his friends.

The boy landed gracefully in a roll and was standing in seconds.

He wasn't standing anymore when Daxter tackled him and began to shake him violently.

"You got something? Jak, tell me you got something!"

"I do Dax, calm down."

"I KNEW IT! I'll stay like this for life and… wait, you do?"

The Anchor smiled and threw something at Samos, who caught it on instinct. When he saw what he had in his hand, he dropped to the ground, unable to maintain his levitation.

"Canister of light eco, courtesy of the Precursors. Don't go wasting it, it's the only free sample. They'll charge you in Precursor eggs if you need more of the stuff."

The shocked sage was alternatively looking at the vial of eco, and at the huge smile on the boy's face. He didn't know how to react. On the contrary, the ottsell knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"THIS. IS. AWESOOOOOME! You're a genius Jak, now I can change back."

"Huh… not exactly."

"W… what do you mean? We have the light stuff now, right?"

"We do, but the statue explained a few things to me, and it's not gonna work."

The ottsell froze on the spot.

"Light eco can only reverse dark eco cursed influence, and your ottsell transformation isn't anything like that. You could have fell into green, blue, yellow, red, or even light eco, and it would have happened anyway."

"You're telling me that I'm stuck as a fuzzy ottsell for the rest of my life?"

"No, you're stuck as a fuzzy Precursor for the rest of your life." replied Jak, handing over what looked like a small copper disk.

"What are you talking –"

Daxter never got to finish his sentence, as the disk activated and projected a hologram of three ottsell in robes, waving and smiling at the camera.

"Hello Daxter." boomed Prof's voice, coming from the device. "I'm sorry that we have to meet on a conference call, but we're in the planet's core at the moment, and we will need a couple of hours before we can join the surface."

Jak discreetly took a picture.

The look on Daxter's face was just priceless.

"Anyway, as Mar… I'm sorry, Jak, already explained, your contact with eco turned you into one of us. Being a Precursor unlocks many abilities in you, abilities that you'll need to control. Now, if you are willing to learn, we can teach you what you need to know."

Daxter hadn't moved a single muscle.

Samos had, but it was only his eyebrow, that was twitching furiously.

Jak took another picture.

"So tell me, Daxter, are you willing to learn?"

The response to that question was loud enough to deafen Sandover…

Yes, the entire village.

* * *

3.03

* * *

The Red Wings, Baron's airship fleet, was just returning from a dubiously crucial mission.

They had invaded the town of Mysidia, slain many of its inhabitants, and stolen a national treasure, the water crystal, from its resting place.

Captain Harvey, leader of the Red Wings, was puzzled. Like his men, he couldn't understand why their king had made them undergo such an operation. Why make a hostile move on innocents civilians? The king couldn't seriously expect this to go unpunished by other countries? And what was the crystal for?

Suspicion arose in the young general, as he stood, unmoving, watching the passing clouds from his flying vessel.

That's when Jak Awoke.

"What the…"

The Anchor took a few seconds to register that he wasn't in Sandover, nor in Haven City.

It could only mean one thing.

"Fused loop." he sighed.

He had almost started to believe that his Admin had joked about them.

He turned to a nearby soldier and was about to call for him when he received his in-loop memories, and they made him growled.

"Great, I just murdered civilians… and I'm corrupted by darkness."

He hoped there was a way to get rid of it, or he would be going all Light Jak on the loop.

But that would have to wait. Something was definitely wrong with the king, and figuring out what was top priority.

Now, what to do about this crystal?

* * *

An incendiary bomb, that damn signet was an incendiary bomb.

He had played with explosives for years now, he should have been able to recognize it at first glance… or by smell, in this case.

But he hadn't, and more innocents had died.

That was it, the king was either completely mad or manipulated by someone else, he had to be stopped. But before that…

Jak grabbed the wounded girl in his arms and took off toward the nearest town.

Saving her was more important.

* * *

Okay, that loop was just ridiculous.

Guards sent after Rydia, the young summoner, hadn't questioned theirs orders. He knew those men, he had trained them, or his unawake self had… why weren't they reacting? You didn't have to be a genius to understand that something was wrong with killing a young girl whose only fault had been to defend her home against her mother's murderers. Jak had been forced to take them down, though he'd done so with clenched jaws and a sour taste in his throat.

Things had gotten even worst when Rosa, supposedly his love interest for the loop, had contracted Sand Fever. The search for the cure to this disease had led them to the city of Damcyan, where they'd witnessed the theft of the fire crystal by the Red Wings' new Commander, a man named Golbez.

Edward, new king of Damcyan, had joined their party and helped them retrieve the Sand Pearl, in the Antillon's Den.

Rosa cured, they'd all traveled to Fabul, hoping to prevent Baron from obtaining yet another crystal.

They'd failed, badly. Kain had left with the air crystal, and Golbez had kidnapped Rosa.

Jak and his remaining allies had then attempted to travel to Baron, where they would have sneaked into the city.

It wasn't meant to be, as their boat had been attacked by Leviathan. Jak had ended up shipwrecked on a beach, alone, Rydia, Edward and Yang blown away by the waves.

He'd finally managed to reach a city a little over an hour ago, only to discovered that it was Mysidia, the town he'd stolen the water crystal from. The inhabitants were rather… bitter.

The Anchor wanted to curse, but he couldn't do that, given the state he was in. He puked once again, emptying his bowel of the nauseous feeling induced by the succession of poison, frog and pig spells.

That loop was getting on his nerves.

* * *

Jak dropped his sword and fell face first on the ground.

Facing his inner darkness wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially with said inner darkness adapting to his looper's status and gaining additional traits from his original dark persona.

But he'd prevailed, and he'd managed to cleanse his soul of yet another evil. He only hoped that other fused loops wouldn't sent him on other purifying experiences, he didn't know if he could stand this kind of thing for long.

The new Paladin sighed loudly.

Who was he kidding, of course the loops would screw with him…

Damn tree.

* * *

Jak eyed the Lunar Whale with suspicion. The thing disturbingly reminded him of an oversized rift ride. It looked nothing the same, but he had the same gut feeling when he looked at it. Something bad awaited them on the moon.

Yes, he was about to take a ship to the moon.

…

He really wanted to sigh, but the others had complained that he was doing it way too frequently.

* * *

So, if he had understood correctly, Zeromus had been the hatred born from Zemus, who had possessed his in-loop brother Theodor, who had himself controlled a large number of other persons, including members of his own party…

There had to be a limit to the number of successive mind controls, right?

Anyway, this threat was gone for good now, and the world was finally at peace.

But for how long?

Probably not that much, with what he was about to do.

"Hey Jak, Cid said you asked for me." said cheerily the white mage, entering the royal quarters.

"Rosa, we… we need to talk."

Her face fell.

The looper began to explain that he couldn't be with her, that he loved another woman… and the loop ended abruptly.

The teary face of Rosa Joanna Farrell was his last conscious memory.

* * *

3.04

* * *

Jak Awoke to an argument he knew by heart by now.

"Are you gonna keep yapping or are you gonna help me out of this mess?"

Once again, the loops had placed him in Sandover Village, more precisely in the green sage's hut, right when Daxter and him had returned from Misty Island.

"I'm gonna keep yapping –" said Samos."– because in my professional opinion, a change is an improvement. And besides, I couldn't help you if I wanted to."

"WHAAAAAT?"

"I'm sorry Daxter, but there's only one person who has studied dark eco long enough to have a chance to –"

"I told you already, I never touched any dark eco!"

That startled the Anchor, and he quickly checked his in-loop memory.

Okay, that was new.

"Don't lie to me, Daxter." growled the sage, pointing an accusing finger at the ottsell.

"He's telling the truth, Master Samos. Green eco from your collectors on the beach caused this."

"Jak, you know as well as I do that only dark eco can have this kind of mutating effects."

"I can assure you that this could have happened with any eco."

"My boy, what you're saying ain't possible. Blue, green, yellow, red eco, they simply can't caused something like this."

"You're wrong, and I can prove it."

Samos' eyes narrowed.

"You can?" he asked, suspicion tainting his words.

"Yes."

"How?"

Jak closed his blue eyes… and opened them white.

Daxter fell to the floor, mouth wide open. Samos grabbed his chest to avoid a heart attack. Kiera, alerted by the racket they'd been making, entered at this exact moment. She gasped when she saw Light Jak smiling sadly at her, before releasing his transformation.

Jak staggered slightly, the eco that flooded his system moments ago disappearing. It left him feeling kinda hollow.

"_That _was my light persona. It was created by _light_ eco, and should be proof enough that dark eco isn't always responsible for weird mutations."

"But, Jak… when did you...?"

"Came into contact with light eco? I haven't, not yet anyway. But I will, several times actually. I will get a first taste of it when I'll face Gol and Maya Acheron, which shall be soon enough. The rest will be granted to me by the Precursors to counter-balance my dark persona."

Weird revelations, cue gasps.

"Your dark..."

"Yes, big bad horned me, always on a dark eco high and great at breaking things. Heard of him?"

Samos had to lower himself to the ground, or he would probably have fell.

"But, it hasn't happened yet." he whispered, frown on his face. "For you to know of it, and to have encountered yet not encountered light eco at the same time… Jak, you time-traveled."

And _that _caused another round of gasps

"Technically, I'm looping."

"Looping?"

"Well, there's this big tree that's kinda like the devices built by the blue sage and… you know what, it's way too complicated and it's gonna take a while, so… better if we get that out of the way first."

Jak turned to the ottsell and knelled before him.

"Dax, eco is a strange thing. It is energy, change, life and death… but the strangest thing about eco, _any eco_, is that it also is a direct link to its last masters. It carries their biological signature."

Samos, sage and master of the green eco, began to swore mutely.

Jak just smiled and ruffled the ottsell's fur.

"Congratulation Dax, you're a Precursor."

Samos swore louder.

Jak grinned and added another cross in his 'I got Greeny mad' mental notepad.

Now, if Daxter reacted like he usually did…

"I'M A PRECURSOR!"

The old sage pushed his daughter aside and exited the house. Then he could be heard cursing

the heavens, damn furred Precursors, and idiotic time-traveling apprentices who couldn't keep their stupid mouth shut when they needed to.

And that was another cross.

* * *

3.05

* * *

Jak, sole looper of the Precursors' Loops, had experience two fused loops so far.

In the first one, he had been a Dark Knight, commander of the Red Wings of Baron. He'd faced numerous monsters, freed himself of the darkness to be reborn as a holy Paladin, and saved the world from possible total annihilation at the hand of a mad man from the moon. He'd also made a woman cry, but that was a story for another day.

His second fused loop had been just as eventful, and even more time-consuming. For several years, he'd been a ninja from Konoha, ostracized by the village inhabitants for the giant ottsell demon sealed in his gut. He'd come close to dying several times over, and he'd been extremely relieved when the loop had ended and let him return to his own branch.

There was a common point between those two loops, aside from the ability he'd gained to use spells and chakra. Those loops had taken him in another branch, it had been a full-immersion experience.

He was about to discover what happened when two branches collided.

* * *

Jak blinked Awake.

The feeling of being hungover that came with every Awakening assaulted him instantly.

"Today's the big day, Jak."

Okay, his head still hurt, but that was Samos' voice, and it was a good news. He was either in Sandover or in Haven City.

"I hope you are prepared… for whatever happens."

Oh, he knew that speech.

"I think I've figured out most of this machine. It interacts with that large Precursor Ring and –"

Yep, that was Kiera, nerding about the rift ride.

"– hope we didn't break anything moving it here."

"Hey, we did all the heavy lifting… Well, Jak did."

And here was his favorite ottsel.

Blocking their voices, the Anchor sat in the ride and began to sort through his in-loop memories… nothing weird there. Either it was baseline, or whatever variations had happened only concerned Haven City.

Good, he would get to do something he'd thought about for quite some time now.

Torn and Ashlyn had tried to recruit him after Praxis' demise a few loops ago. At the time, he'd refused and joined his father in Spargus. Then he'd had this loop in the Elemental Nations, that one where he'd looped as his younger self, three where he'd awoke after his escape from Parxis' prison, and even one where he'd been female and replaced Onin, using his looper's knowledge to guide his unawake self.

But this new loop was the perfect opportunity for this, and he would happily seize it. He would join the Krimzon Guard and get to Praxis from the inside. He could already picture his face when one of his own guard would put a gun to the tyrant's head.

Jak stopped smirking when he heard a strange background noise and Samos' panicked voice.

"Daxter, what did you do?"

"Nothing, I just… pressed a couple of buttons?" tried the ottsell.

"Hey, look at the gate."

Jak listened to Kiera… and immediately regretted it.

That wasn't the Rift Gate. Not the one he was used to anyway.

This one was made of a clearer, leaner metal. The symbols on it were far more numerous than the ones on the original, and they were definitely not Precursor in origin.

The Anchor watched, fascination and dread pooling in his gut. The inner ring of this strange gate was producing a grinding sound as it moved around, stopping from time to time on an apparently random position. Only at the seven halt did the ring go entirely still. Seconds later, a great 'Kawoosh!' was heard, as a blast of blue energy escaped the gate before settling down as a watery veil.

Jak had no idea what was this thing, nor what was behind that door, but he wasn't one to take unnecessary risks when faced with an unknown element.

He immediately created a dozen of shadow clones.

Ignoring the surprised exclamations from his friend, he cast _Protect_ and _Shell_ on them, and a clone prepared for an emergency _Teleport. _The original faced the door with a _Libra_ and a _Darkness_ at the ready, other clones stepping aside, preparing their own spells or readying themselves to go through hand signs at the slightest hint of a threat.

They didn't have to wait for long, as something came out of the gate. It was a small metal case, slowly advancing on tiny wheels while buzzing slightly.

"Huh… hello."

The voice startled Jak and he almost fried the thing on the spot.

Whoever was on the other side apparently saw it, because the voice apologized.

"I'm sorry if I surprised you, it was never my intention."

The man sounded honest enough.

Jak decided to ask the most important question at the moment, and keep the thousands of other important questions for later.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Daniel Jackson, archeologist. I'm talking to you…"

"Jak."

A strangled cursed was heard in the background, coming from Daniel's end.

"Jak, nice to meet you. As I was saying, I'm talking to you through this device, from a planet called Earth."

After meeting the Precursors and their dark counterparts, he firmly believed in life on other worlds.

He'd just never expected to see any on his doorstep… literally.

"Your communicator can reach us from another planet?"

"The M.A.L.P. – that's the communicator – can't, but the stone ring before you can, Jak. It is what we call a Stargate, and can create an Einstein-Rosen bridge, a stable vortex of energy. With the right address, the right combination of symbols, you can connect two gates together, which allows near instantaneous travel through space."

How could an archeologist have access to something akin to a Rift Gate?

"Fascinating." said Samos.

The old sage was still lost in this inexplicable situation, but he had at least regained his scientific drive.

His daughter was in the same state, with eyes now shining at the prospect of other worlds.

Daxter was just silently mouthing "What the heck is happening?" at him.

The Anchor ignored the ottsell and turned back to the strange metal complexion, a part of which had started to move again.

"You're not alone. I'm really sorry for ignoring your friends, I should have looked around before and… oh boy."

Daniel suddenly sounded worried and hopeful at the same time.

"Jak, are you, by any chance, feeling loopy? Because if not, you have one hell of a family."

Well, that was a surprise, Daniel had apparently recognized his clones for what they were.

Jak smiled.

He was meeting his first looper.

"I was feeling loopy, yes, but I'm well Anchored now."

"And your friends?"

Jak sighed.

"Not looping yet, it's just me."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm just a looper myself, but I know that Anchors are having it hard."

"I confirm." said a deep and kind voice in the background. "General Georges Hammond, nice to meet you Jak."

"Me too, sir."

"No need for this, you're not one of my men, Jak. Now, Daniel's team is ready to go through the Stargate. Is that fine with you, or do you need more time on your end to set things straight?"

"Well, I could use an hour to explain how I cloned myself."

"Then we will close the gate for now."

"We will call you back." said Daniel. "Remember to stay away from the gate when it activates, the unstable vortex disintegrate everything at the molecular level."

Ouch, that would probably hurt.

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks Daniel."

"You're welcome. I'll see you in an hour, Jak."

The voices coming from the M.A.L.P. went silent, and the shimmering gate closed moments later.

The local Anchor turned around, only to meet three questioning looks, awe and a good dose of fear – he really didn't want to know of what… or who – mixed in them.

His head was hurting already.

"This is going to take a while."

* * *

3.06

* * *

Spargus was like the desert. It was scorching hot in the day and freezing cold at night. Rough on the surface, and harsh underneath. You had to be exceptionally strong-willed or downright crazy to even conceive living there.

Jak was both.

"Hey dad, I kinda sorta rammed the car into a sand dune. It's totally wrecked, truly sorry about that. Love you dad, bye dad."

The twelve years old Anchor, determined to enjoy this variant at its fullest, ran away from the throne room. He had other places to be and other things to do.

A weird silence fell unto the bemused assembly of visiting monks he'd left in his wake.

"Are you sure he's not adopted?" finally joked a guard, smirking at his king.

Damas considered reprimanding the man… and shook his head, sighing slowly.

"If only..."

* * *

3.01 - It's all about balance.

3.02 - The furry sages will teach Daxter their art when he starts looping, but nothing is stopping Jak from taking notes already.

3.03 - If you hadn't gotten it already, yes, the light/dark thing will be a recurring theme. Also, Jak will definitely meet the looping Rosa someday.

3.04 - Dax touchs eco, Dax turns into a Precursor. Simple, right?

3.05 - With that massive Precursor gate, that fused loop was a given.

3.06 - A young Jak, running around Spargus, breaking things... poor Damas.


End file.
